This invention relates generally to networked devices and, more particularly, to communications between Ethernet Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) networked devices.
On an Ethernet TCP/IP network, the delivery time for a packet of data depends on the amount of traffic on the network. One known method for increasing efficiency and speed on an Ethernet network is to allow one device (a producer) to transfer data to a plurality of other devices (consumers) using a Global Data (GD) protocol as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,375, assigned to GE Fanuc Automation North America, Inc., Charlottesville, Va. An Ethernet Global Data (EGD) protocol enables a plurality of consuming devices and producing devices to operate asynchronously of each other. These devices include programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and computers, and the data transfers therebetween are commonly called exchanges.
Typically, users of EGD define a comma separated variable (CSV) file format for importing and exporting exchanges for the user's devices. However, the user defined CSV files do not address the configuration of devices of other users, and are not platform and programming language independent.
However, devices supporting the EGD Protocol use a different mechanism for defining and specifying content.